Jim Giberti
October 1st, 2004, 10:27 AM
Without getting too estoteric, I wanted to give a quick report on audio tests I ran in the studio on the live interview work we did this week.
After testing different setups in a controlled studio environment (a brand new audio room tweaked with acoustic treatment, ASC Tube Traps etc.) comparing a ME66 using a Sound Devices MixPre, its pres, phantom power, monitoring etc. vs direct into the new mixer section and XLR section of the XL2, I decided to do these documentary segments straight to the XL2.
What I found (or didn't find) upon listnening back to the studio tests on industry standard Yamaha NS-10s as well as 2 other reference systems, was a "too close to call" similarity in response and, most critically, in signal to noise.
I was a bit surprised and very pleased to find the self noise of the new preamps to be below a reasonable signal threshold. Using the XL2s phantom power with the XLRT ATT off and no GAIN UP in the audio menu, I was able to get a nice fat signal averaging 12 db and peaking around 6 which is ideal for my goal of a tight signal to tape without the risk of reaching digital clipping.
So off we went to test this in a pretty critical real world situation where I had a sound person using the XL2 headphone out for monitors and using the XL2 meters in a field monitor to watch levels (which I set up and monitored during the shoot as well...they never wandered much at all).
Of course all of this is dependent on good mic technique, mic isolation and wind control etc. In this case I used a Lightwave screen, sock and isolation mount...nothing fancy, the mic properly positioned for best on axis sound and just off camera in each instance on a fixed stand, no boom opertator.
After reviewing 5 hours of footage yesterday and checking all the audio back in my recording studio through the same monitoring setup, I was very happy. Good tight audio, no hiss or digital junk, clean and loud.
As impressive was the fact that I used the onboard stereo mic with manual gain to capture all the ambient sound of ski jumpers going off the 90 meter on plastic, roller skiing, target shooting at the biathalon range etc. All very useable audio in a broadcast situation, Ideal for B-roll, and creating a soundtrack, and very 3 dimensional.
So my synopsis is simply; you can absolutely go out in controlled and dynamic situations with a decent audio kit and use the XL2 as your 48v power, preamp and mixer section and come away with great audio.
After testing different setups in a controlled studio environment (a brand new audio room tweaked with acoustic treatment, ASC Tube Traps etc.) comparing a ME66 using a Sound Devices MixPre, its pres, phantom power, monitoring etc. vs direct into the new mixer section and XLR section of the XL2, I decided to do these documentary segments straight to the XL2.
What I found (or didn't find) upon listnening back to the studio tests on industry standard Yamaha NS-10s as well as 2 other reference systems, was a "too close to call" similarity in response and, most critically, in signal to noise.
I was a bit surprised and very pleased to find the self noise of the new preamps to be below a reasonable signal threshold. Using the XL2s phantom power with the XLRT ATT off and no GAIN UP in the audio menu, I was able to get a nice fat signal averaging 12 db and peaking around 6 which is ideal for my goal of a tight signal to tape without the risk of reaching digital clipping.
So off we went to test this in a pretty critical real world situation where I had a sound person using the XL2 headphone out for monitors and using the XL2 meters in a field monitor to watch levels (which I set up and monitored during the shoot as well...they never wandered much at all).
Of course all of this is dependent on good mic technique, mic isolation and wind control etc. In this case I used a Lightwave screen, sock and isolation mount...nothing fancy, the mic properly positioned for best on axis sound and just off camera in each instance on a fixed stand, no boom opertator.
After reviewing 5 hours of footage yesterday and checking all the audio back in my recording studio through the same monitoring setup, I was very happy. Good tight audio, no hiss or digital junk, clean and loud.
As impressive was the fact that I used the onboard stereo mic with manual gain to capture all the ambient sound of ski jumpers going off the 90 meter on plastic, roller skiing, target shooting at the biathalon range etc. All very useable audio in a broadcast situation, Ideal for B-roll, and creating a soundtrack, and very 3 dimensional.
So my synopsis is simply; you can absolutely go out in controlled and dynamic situations with a decent audio kit and use the XL2 as your 48v power, preamp and mixer section and come away with great audio.